That’s what could be on offer if the latest story by Variety is to be believed. They were a little light on the details, but in a hefty column detailing the recent failures by Marvel Studios and the struggles they’ve seen as a result, there was a bit of promising news for fans of the original Avengers. With things pretty much going to belly-up at Marvel after the Infinity Saga and The Marvels looking like it’s going to be the next flop, the growing consternation at Marvel has the studio considering a return the original Big Three. The news comes to us via Variety in this block quote.
With Iger publicly acknowledging the downside of a Marvel TV glut that “diluted focus and attention,” the keepers of the comic book empire are considering some dramatic moves. Sources say there have been talks to bring back the original gang for an “Avengers” movie. This would include reviving Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, both of whom were killed off in “Endgame.” (That shouldn’t be a stumbling block — in comic books, beloved characters are often killed off, only to be resurrected thanks to the power of things like the multiverse.) But the studio hasn’t yet committed to the idea — if it were able to bring those actors back, it wouldn’t come cheap. Sources say Downey Jr.’s upfront salary for “Iron Man 3” was around $25 million.
I have no idea if there’s a chance they bring back characters like Iron Man or Black Widow, but I do know a couple of things. One of the things I know is that people don’t vibe with the smaller characters as much as they do with the bigger names. Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man broke the mold and became household names even though they don’t sell comics all that well. Marvel saw them succeed and thought “we can do this with Eternals, She-Hulk, and tons of our other characters!” They were wrong. They were miserably wrong.
I struggle even to see how Iron Man would be able to save Marvel right now anyhow. The story is so completely disjointed and out of focus that any Iron Man film would have to spend most of its time acknowledging the current reality post-death. Tony would have to spend so much time playing catchup and any solution he came up with to current problems would seem so hand-wavy that it would probably just add more confusion and frustration. I honestly think it would do more harm than good.
There are also fans like myself who would find it lame, knowing Marvel only brought them back because they were struggling and needed to score some quick points. It would take the sacrifices made in Avengers: Endgame and make them completely pointless, all but worthless. If the heroes had come back nine or ten years later, sure. But coming back not even five years after their deaths just screams “basic” to me and I think I would probably hate every minute of it. I’ve read comics my whole life, I know characters return from the dead. That doesn’t mean it needs to be done in a completely tacky manner.
Would you want to see the Big Three return? Would you find it as tacky as I would? Sound off in the comments. Let us know what you would do if you were offered the chance to fix Marvel Studios. Would you reboot the entire thing? I know what I would do and if y’all are interested, let me know and I’ll write that story for you.